A Lesson in Layering Acrylic Paint

About Sandrine Pelissier

I grew up in France but have been living in Canada for the last 12 years, I am currently located in North Vancouver and work from a studio on Pemberton Avenue.

Watercolor is my medium of choice because of the unique way it allows me to render light. The transparency of this medium can make it look like the painting is lit from behind and the light is shining through the paper In my portraits, I like to tell stories about the people around me. I am very interested in childhood fantasy or fairy tales (I wish it would snow Flowers, Hair Balloon, Georgia, the Spanish dress and the Eclectus Parrot). I also like to induce a dialogue with the viewer in some paintings dealing more with introspection and mood (Mixed, In the studio).

Those portraits are not about likeness or knowing the people that are being painted, as I see my models as actors in a movie, they are the faces that will allow me to tell a story or to show emotions. Those faces are a source of endless fascination and I find the subtlety that can be achieved with watercolor well suited to the complexity of the human face.

My technique involves the accumulation of many transparent layers of watercolor. Then I like to incorporate mixed media in the background, work sometimes with some contouring. I also sometimes like to add some drawing on top of the painting or some graphic elements…

Sandrine’s Website

Sandrine’s Blog

Exhibition: A demonstration in layering acrylics

My charcoal drawing on the canvas, made from a picture my daughter took.

Here, my first layer of black. I am trying to paint with colors that are in contrast with the local colors.

Painting more contrasting colors.

All this layering will help making colors more complex at the end and having interesting and contrasting edges.

Here I start another phase of layering, with colors I found in undertones of the local colors

For example some of the light on the ceiling have blue undertones.

Here I start to apply local colors.

I keep them semi-transparent by adding medium so some of the layering underneath is still visible.

Adjusting local colors and correcting some of the figure shapes.

Final – Exhibition : Acrylic on canvas